Do something right, with purpose and passion BMW Jesus. Remember where you came from and why you got here. I understand that companies must evolve and change but they must do it within there own brand values. It seems as though BMW's only value now is to make a buck.

Overact much??

Somehow this little feature must cancel all the great tech specs listed in the sticky!

The way I see it, confirmation of this feature is just giving the trolls and haters something to hate on.

Overall i dont love the idea, but i also dont mind listening to some engine audio. I wish the engine could do it all on its own but if it cant, it sucks but so be it.

I am curious about the above point about it affecting the performance of the audio system. Maybe this would be a good followup with BMW engineers on this topic, finding out their opinions on active sound degrading performance of the audio.

Any M5/M6 owners notice issues with music with high RPM/load on the engine?

I would bet that sooner or later this would be something to disable/enable through the CAN system or disabling the mic system altogether. If braniacs can hack code and figure out how to tune these modern engines and raise boost, I am sure someone will figure out a way to disable without pulling a fuse.

Real question for me is why? Totally unnecessary and disappointing. Does the volume vary with speed or the volumes on stereo?

Exactly !why!?! It's such a waste of money and resources. The car makes noise ! They could just as easily piped a hole through the car to the engine bay. The whole idea has no real value. That and if you open the exhaust valves you'll get more noise.

I have not heard this feature yet in the cars that have it. Surface level, sounds laughable. In reality, I would not mind hearing more engine inside the car with windows up. I feel like the E92 M3 is insulated pretty well and the engine noise does not make it in the car when you have EPS going at a reasonable volume. Then you start feeling deaf and numb to your surroundings and that makes me a bit anxious because I like to hear all the things happening around me as a defense mechanism to motorcycles coming up on me, ambulances, pedestrians, etc.
Did BMW do this so they could isolate unwanted road noise while electing to keep engine noise? I don't mind it but I don't love the idea itself.
It seems analogous to being told that from now on, you cannot sit in the recording studio and listen to Led Zeppelin play live. You must listen to it through the wall via very expensive monitors or on vinyl, through a very nice audiophile quality tube amp system.

In general I'm having a hard time accepting that its not all natural but at the same time I ask myself the question, do I enjoy a concert less by hearing the music through the speakers and not being literally on the stage and hearing it from the instruments themselves?

I think it's been said at least once on these boards before that it would be silly to add weight via 'mechanical' amplifiers when digital amplification does a superior job for less weight. I find it also hard to argue with that logic.

So there is a microphone near the exhaust and in the engine bay? Anyone have any idea how this works?

Judging by how hard it is to actually record the exhaust sound, I find it very hard to believe that this is a live audio feed from your exhaust. This would be very costly too, as you need an expensive microphone to get quality sound.

I think it's just marketing talk, it's more likely an actual recording of the exhaust made on any M3, and they combine/alter the sound just like they do in video games.

Judging by how hard it is to actually record the exhaust sound, I find it very hard to believe that this is a live audio feed from your exhaust. This would be very costly too, as you need an expensive microphone to get quality sound.

I think it's just marketing talk, it's more likely an actual recording of the exhaust made on any M3, and they combine/alter the sound just like they do in video games.

That seems much more likely. I find it hard to believe it's a microphone.